


The Meaning of This

by Galadriel1010



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Charlie isn't human, F/M, M/M, Romance, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, What is Romance, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 04:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9803483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: Charlie and Matteusz aren't, no matter how much people want them to be, romantic. Except in all the ways they are.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Late to the party. I thought keeping up with fandom was hard when I was at school, but it turns out I was wrong.
> 
> Anyway. I wanted to explore how Charlie and Matteusz would go about their first Valentine's Day, and settled on a bit of alien, a bit of queer non-conformity, a bit of resistance to nosey friends, and a lot of fluff.

The others rushed off to their final lesson, leaving April and Charlie to amble back to their lockers in peace once everyone else was off the corridors. April caught his arm and smiled as sweetly as he could. "Charlie, I was wondering, since the others are busy…"

"You want some help getting ready for Prom?" he guessed, smiling back at her. "Of course. So long as you promise there's not going to be any aliens at this one."

She laughed and leaned against Matteusz's locker, whilst Charlie put the last of his books away. There was a little photo of him and Matteusz on the inside, a bigger photo of the five of them, and a lot of stickers. "Valentine's Day is a big deal," she explained. "It's a day all about love. It used to be just for people trying to find partners, but now it's an opportunity to show the person you're with how much you love them."

"I know." He laughed at her expression. "I do have Google, you know. And the shops are full of hearts and pink. It's a bit hard to miss."

"Oh… I guess so." She brightened up as a thought occurred to her. "So, have you got anything planned for Matteusz? You should buy him flowers. Or maybe not, that might be a bit girly. Is he a romantic guy? He doesn't really strike me as one."

Charlie shook his head. "He can be romantic, when he wants to be. But I'm… pretty terrible at it," he admitted with a laugh. "Romance among the Rhodia… not really a big deal."

She pouted. "You're coming to the prom, though?"

"Wouldn't miss it." He closed his locker and offered her his arm. "So we'd better get on, hadn't we?"

XxXxX

Ram pulled his hoody over his head and ran his hands through his hair to straighten it, choosing to ignore Matteusz laughing at him. "Good practice that, mate. Still glad you came along?"

"Yes. I am enjoying it." He zipped his bag up and hauled it onto his shoulder. "One day, you will get a goal past me."

"Hey! I put three past you today." He flicked a crisp at him off the bench. "Keep playing like that and you'll end up going up to the first team and leaving me behind."

Matteusz chuckled and shook his head. "The first team is for people who want to win. I just want to play football."

"I don't get you." Ram fished his phone out of his bag. "Lots of messages. Looks like Charlie's pining for you. God, can you imagine him playing football? That would be mint, mate." He picked his bag up and started thumbing through the messages. "You and Charlie doing anything for V-Day?"

"We're helping April with the prom. Aren't you?"

"Well, obviously. But I've got her a card and a big teddy and stuff, too. And I'm taking her out for dinner, if her mum lets me." He grimaced. "She doesn't hate me any more, but you know what she can be like."

They dumped their bags in the boot of Ram's car and Matteusz closed it with a thunk. "Where are you taking her?"

Ram indicated down the road. "There's this little Italian place. Well cute. Took her there for lunch once, too. They do really good steaks. Just… don't tell my mum I said that?"

Matteusz laughed. "I will not. But I will remember it." He slid into the passenger seat and frowned, then reached down to slide it back. "April has messed with my seat again."

"Technically it's her seat. She is my girlfriend."

"What will hold a lot will hold a little." He stretched his legs out and nodded. "Better."

"Polish giraffe." He paused before he started the car up. "Is Charlie into romance? He doesn't seem it, but then he seems like he really wants to be."

He didn't answer for a while, until Ram had got bored and started the car. "He tries, sometimes. But I am not. Well, I don't like this hearts and flowers shit. That isn't romance, it is just for shops to make money off people who feel guilty." He smiled down at his phone. "I would rather have him than have him pretend."

Ram snorted. "I should have been gay, mate. It sounds so much simpler. Apart from the… getting kicked out by your parents bit."

XxXxX

"I need you to babysit tonight," Quill told them over breakfast. 

Charlie looked up from his cereal. "We can't. Ask Tanya."

"What do you mean you can't?" She folded her arms and glared at him. "After everything I've done for you…"

"I appreciate you not murdering us both in our sleep," he told her, without a hint of sarcasm. "But we already have plans."

"What do you mean you have plans?" She sighed. "Oh, don't tell me. It's to do with this ridiculous Valentine's Day tradition, isn't it? Honestly, no matter how hard you pretend, you're not actually human. Besides, Matteusz doesn't want you to be, do you?"

Matteusz shrugged. "I do not mind."

"There," she crowed. "See? He doesn't need… romance."

"But we are still going out," he added. "If you have an event you cannot miss, ask Tanya. Or April. Ram is taking her out tomorrow, not tonight."

She glared at them. "Why are you being so stubborn?"

Charlie picked up his phone and smiled serenely at her. "Because we can."

XxXxX

Tanya moved her bag out of the way so Matteusz could sit down and pulled her textbook closer to her. "You're out late," she observed. "Was Polish just that much fun?"

"We got talking, about Brexit. Again." He folded himself into the chair and buried his head in his arms. "I do not want to talk about Brexit."

Ram patted his back. "We're not letting you go anywhere, mate. Charlie would be a nightmare."

"Yeah." Tanya tilted her head and squinted at her diagram. "I think I got that the wrong way up. Speaking of Charlie, what are you getting him?"

Matteusz looked up at her, frowning, "Nothing."

"What? Why?"

"Because they're blokes, and blokes don't do romantic," Ram answered for him. "It's much easier."  
"It is not because we are male. That is stereotyping." He sighed and rested his chin on his arms instead. "But he is an alien, and I do not like being pressured into shopping for… things. Hearts and flowers and chocolates. We do not need those."

Tanya sighed. "I'd love to get a Valentine's card, even."

"Me too, in the past. But now I know I have my Valentine." He sat up and pulled a bag out of his book. "I do not need a special day when he has made it clear how he feels about me."

XxXxX

Charlie lay against Matteusz, languid and sleepy, with his hand on Matteusz's chest rising and falling with his still-heavy breathing. He turned his head just enough to kiss his shoulder and tried to snuggle in even closer, as if it were possible. Matteusz's hand swept down his side and rested on his hip, pulling him in and holding him there. He yawned, jaw cracking. "I love you," he murmured, voice already thick with sleep.

"I know." Matteusz stroked his hip with his thumb. "You are thinking about tomorrow."

"Yes," he admitted. "I still don't understand it. Everyone thinks I should buy you a card, or chocolate or flowers. There were teddy bears, but I didn't think you'd want one of those. Should I have bought you flowers?"

He chuckled and turned his head to kiss Charlie's forehead. "No. You do not need to buy me anything like that. I know I am loved. What more could I want? You are strange, very strange, and I love that about you. I do not want what everyone else has. If I had that, I wouldn't have you."

Charlie's chest heated with happiness. "I don't need one day to show you how I feel." He smiled. "Every alien who attacks us seems to know it, after all."

XxXxX

"Charlie, can you grab those bags and the boot," April asked, her own hands full with a large crate. "I think that's the lot. I bought about a million balloons."

He laughed. "And a lot of flowers," he observed. "No big rolls of paper this time?"

"They're in the store room. With the pens and glitter." She grinned at him. "No Shadowkin this time either. Shame Miss Quill wouldn't come and help, though. I liked her posters."

"Don't you still have them? If not, we can redo them." He hurried up behind her and took the bag off the top of her crate. "But if anyone reads them…"

"Their night is rubbish," she agreed, laughing. "Come on."

Charlie got the door for her, and followed her into the hall again. They were the only ones in there, and both of them still glanced into every corner several times before their chests eased up. A comfortable silence settled over them as they got the rolls of paper spread out and started work. He glanced up at April as she started humming and smiled. "You're happy today."

"Ram got me a lovely card," she said, smiling to herself. "And a really cute teddy."

"Really? That's sweet."

"It is. And he took me out for dinner last night." She finished a word and had to move over. "What about you? Did Matteusz get you anything?"

He laughed. "No."

April looked up at him and frowned. "You went out at the weekend, though? I saw your photos on Instagram."

"Oh, yes." He smiled and reached into the box again. "It was really nice. Have you been?"

"No. It looked pretty."

He nodded. "It was." He knelt down and started doodling in one corner of the roll of paper. "It's a Lantern Festival down at Chiswick House, for Chinese New Year. They're beautiful. All sorts of colours and shapes. We went skating, too. Artificial ice, isn't that amazing? I wasn't very good, but Matteusz, he moves so beautifully on the ice. And we had such amazing food, and then once it was dark we went through the lanterns again. We were late home."

"Oh Charlie, that sounds wonderful. Was that your idea?" When he nodded, she smiled softly. "I thought you weren't romantic," she teased.

"I'm not. I didn't even get him a card."

She laughed. "That's not what romance is, silly. Romance is doing things for the person you love because you know you'll like them. And I think Matteusz is a very lucky guy."


End file.
